No comment on the ethics; however, I think when people's instincts to survive kick in, many of these larger goals get sidelined.
There's a growing belief that it's now or never as far as accumulating wealth, securing a house, etc. go because people think once AGI comes their chances of having the lives they want will diminish. The bay area has only gotten more expensive to live in, and that's where all of the AI folks are, so no surprise.
I think in general, if it were cheaper to live, we would see a shift in priorities, what people focus on, etc. More art, less grift.
Genuinely good people get caught up in rat races trying to reach their ceiling while they can. If they didn't feel that pressure, maybe they'd be doing something else.
I genuinely enjoy software development, but if I could provide for my family, I’d also enjoy selling croissants at a local bakery or filling up shelves at the supermarket.
You can just... not live in California. Most other places are doing just fine and experiencing the usual moderate economic instability that happens every decade or two along with the rest of the world.
If we do consider the ethics, there's a lot of contradictions built into why someone would want to live there so badly to do the kind of work the blog post is concerned with.
Their efforts are better rewarded moving their passion into an open source project while keeping a job in tech that they don't care so much about and are qualified for. This is a normal part of growing up. Some people switch careers while others stay in it while decoupling their passions from their paycheck.
I actually considered that, myself. The thing is, California is where the jobs are for me. If I move out of California, I may never be able to come back. That could cost me a lot.
Who cares about California? If you dont have family there, just head to Europe as fast as you can, one way ticket, don't ever pay the IRS to come back.
I don't think the now or never thinking is healthy, but I certainly understand the motivation. I myself have never really fit into a career path climbing the corporate ladder, and entrepreneurship is a skill that takes time to develop. When you're oscillating between stability and bleeding money, it's natural to want to go all in on an opportunity when it presents itself.
For relatively straightforward groups whose tasks are self explanatory and/or isolated, sure. For any kind of invention, however, I don't think this line of thought works. Alan Kay has said in a number of places that Xerox PARC (likely) couldn't have worked if they had been remote, nor could it have worked if they hadn't had the time they did to goof off, argue, share hypotheticals, etc. Developing a shared intuition and connection with others in your group is an immeasurable quality that doesn't get enough love.
In other words, if your organization is made up of a bunch of geese that lay golden eggs, by all means let them lay eggs, but don't ignore the fact that your organization could itself be a goose that lays golden eggs together.
Product seems like it could be neat, and around 0:34 of the demo video I thought I understood what it was, but after that I was confused again. Does it translate a question/wish into a set of questions?
Is it just "I have a question, go find the answer(s), even if it means asking other people"?
They aren't trying to "gain traction" right now. They are nurturing a beautiful little flame of a vision and documenting it for the world to learn from, and possibly be inspired by, along the way -- someday it will be more publicly available, but for now it functions, to the general public, more as art than utility.
The typical themes of things that get posted on HN are not compatible with this idea, which is why it comes across so jarringly to many. They aren't selling, prescribing, recruiting, etc. They are sharing a vision, and to deeply understand and appreciate the vision you have to get your hands dirty and do some digging into what they've prepared for us to see thus far.
For those criticizing, think of this updated website more from the lens of art, less pragmatics. The Doug Engelbart "Mother of All Demos" functioned in this way as well. Can you imagine scoffing at Engelbart in the same way? There are quite a few deep ideas in this presentation of Dynamicland, many of which are subtle and take some effort to find and appreciate, much like art.
Yes, it is intended to be useful to many one day, and they claim it "actually works" _now_, but if you read carefully (and you should!), they are trying very hard to maintain (and gradually grow) a beautiful little flame of a vision. PARC, on the other hand, had 10 years. Afterwards, industry ran with the ideas they wanted, and Alan Kay has been beating the "you missed the big ideas!" drum since. The Dynamicland group is trying to learn from this lesson of history.
A number of the side effects listed here are also known to happen on the "waking up" journey. Tinnitus, for example, is a thing we all have that our brain filters out for the most part. Depersonalization is an obvious (and sought after) side effect of "waking up" as well.
These side effects can be scary to someone that doesn't anticipate them (or just doesn't want them), but the "benefits" of LSD often point to the loosening of your sense of self, seeing unfiltered reality, etc.
TLDR: these side effects can be seen as good in the right context.
Article's points shouldn't be taken as seriously as the general message: be just as aware of the invisible, negative forces that hinder employees as you are of the positive forces which stellar employees bring. Yin and yang.
Important to note that there are also 10x environments that make everyone in them 10x as effective.
I think in general, if it were cheaper to live, we would see a shift in priorities, what people focus on, etc. More art, less grift.
Genuinely good people get caught up in rat races trying to reach their ceiling while they can. If they didn't feel that pressure, maybe they'd be doing something else.